Recently the medicine of plants have been calling to me so I have been working with the plants in my yard using reiki. I keep having dreams where I “know” which plants are healing and which plants are nourishing. This deep feeling that we all need to restore our intuitive connection with the plants in our own yard and region is strong.
Just a few years ago I discovered the benefits of essential oils and kept into ordering and studying and learning all that I could. While the benefits are clear and based on the chemicals in the plants, I kept feeling it was so wasteful. 1,000 mandarin to make the mandarin oil I was using. How much sandalwood and frankincense? How could this be sustainable if we want everyone to use plants as medicine? The more I would study the more I learned about unsustainable practices, over harvesting, and companies buying foreign lands and only hiring locals to work the land as employees, not supporting their independence with allowing land ownership. There had to be a better way to heal with plants, I just knew it in my bones.
After my deep year long dive into essential oils, I visited my college roommate on her organic farm north of Seattle. She had journeyed deep into shamanism and spirit medicine after we had parted ways. She gave her book on Plant Shamanism and more. That book had such wisdom, talking about the importance of finding the medicine of the plants living near me. Plants growing around me would learn what nutrients I needed and fill that need. I just needed to be spending time with them and talking to them. The plants could read my energy field and see what to make to help nourish me on every level. What an amazing thought!
Since then, I have been working to grow as many herbal medicinal plants as possible. The blue berries are so important but adding in herbs to every meal has provided subtle shifts. I am learning to use stinging nettles, plantain, basil, pineapple sage, kitchen sage, lemon balm, rosemary, oregano, catnip, and thyme in so many ways. I have also discovered that even Sweet Gum trees have anti-viral properties when harvesting green sweet gum balls and making a tincture from them. Chickweed and henbit even have good vitamins to help us. I am so excited to be learning about the medicine in my own backyard. I try to use something from my yard in every meal and even in my water.
By doing reiki on each plant that’s growing in my yard, I learn what the plant needs to thrive, and I begin to notice what is unbalanced. Perhaps some mulch to maintain the moisture, maybe some weeding to clear the ground, maybe trimming back to help fresh growth emerge, and maybe some compost for nutrients. the reiki also helps the plants to root better and thrive. It’s been an amazing journey to connect with and learn how these amazing plants are here to help us and communicate. I am even learning which weeds are tasty as they are with just a little rinse. They let me know the importance of adding a little to all my food, rather than just adding to one dish once in a while. My yard is full of native salad greens and I even found some mustard greens. What a discovery!
Take time to connect with the food growing in your own yard. Try using Reiki to see what you notice! Don’t know Reiki yet? Sign up for my classes.